6
CSERTAL^
1/2 STORY cvj
[LANGFORD
I oJ 7 the |
J THREE J
!BARSS F
t-By
KATE AND VIRGIL D. BOYLES
(Copyright by A. C. McClurg & Co., iyo7.)
SYNOPSIS.
George Williston, u poor ranrhman,
high-mimled anil cultured, searches for
C;M tic missing- l'rom liis ranch—the "Lazy
S." On a wooded spot in tin 1 river's bed
that would have been an island had the
Missouri been at high water, he dis
covers a band of horse thieves engaged
in working over brands 011 cattle. He
creeps near enough to note the chang
ing of tin"Three Bars" brand on one
.'tecr to the "J. R." brand. Paul 1-ang
ford, the rich owner of the"Three
lii.rs," is informed of the operations of
the gang of cattle thieves—a band of
outlaws headed by Jesse Black, who
long have delied tiie law and authori
ties hi' Kemah county. South Dakota.
Langford is struck with the beauty of
Mary, commonly known as "Williston's
little girl." Louise Dale, an expert
court stenographer, who had followed
le r uncle. Judge Hammond Dale, from
the east to the "Dakotalis." and who
Is living with him at Wind City, is
requested by the county attorney,
Hiohard Gordon, to come to Kemah and
take testimony in the preliminary
hearing of Jesse Black. Jim Munson, in
waiting at the train for Louise, looks
fit a herd of cattle being shipped by
Bill Brown, and there detects old
"Mas." a well known "onery" steer be
longing to his employer of the"Three
Bars" ranch. Munson and Louise start
for Kemah. Crowds assemble in Justice
James U. McAllister's court for the
preliminary hearing. Jesse Black springs
the tirst of many great surprises, waiving
examination. Through Jake Sanderson, a
member of the outlaw gang, he had
learned that the steer "Mag" had been re
covered. and thus saw the uselessness of
lighting against being bound over. County
Attorney Gordon accompanies Louise
Dab- on her return to Wind City. While
Willijynn stands in the light in his door
<it night a shot is tired at him. The house
is attacked and a battle ensues between
Williston and his daughter, on one side,
and the outlaws on the other. The house
Is set on fire. As the outlaw raises his rifle
to shoot Williston a shot from an un
known source pierces his arm and the
rifle falls to the ground. Aid has come to
Williston, hut ho and his daughter are
captured and borne away by the outlaws.
Jim Munson late at night heard the shots,
discovered the attack on Williston's house,
hurried to the Three Bars ranch and sum
moned Langford and his bravo men to the
rescue. It was Langford who fired the shot
which saved Williston's life. Langford
rescues Mary from her captor. Langford
takes Mary to the home of Mrs. White.
Her arm has been broken by a shot. She
grows delirious and receives medical at
tention. The party search in vain for
Williston. Louise comes to nurse Mary.
Williston is given up for dead. But
meager evidence Is obtainable against
Jesse Black, and it is concluded that the
case must be fought out on the sole
question of "Mag." Judge Dale arrives
to sit at the December session of the cir
cuit court at which the cattle theft case
is to be tried. Gordon has hard work in
securing an unprejudiced jury. Red
Sanderson takes a seat in the hotel
dining hall beside Louise and addresses
her. He is unceremoniously shoved aside
by Gordon. Sanderson draws his gun.
CHAPTER XV—Continued.
There were others who did not
know the little man. He hailed from
the southern part of the state. But
Gordon knew him. He knew he was
pitted against one of the sharpest,
shrewdest men of his day.
"Gentlemen, I think we are ready,"
said the judge, and the game was on
again.
The state called Paul Langford, its
principal witness in default of Wil
liston.
"Your name, place of residence and
business?" asked the counsel for the
state.
"Paul Langford. I reside in Kemah
county and I own and operate a cattle
ranch."
After Langford had clearly de
scribed and identified the animal in
question, Gordon continued:
"Mr. Langford, when did you first
miss this steer?"
"On the 15th day of July last."
"How did you happen to miss this
steer?"
"My attention was called to the fact
that an animal answering this de
scription and bearing my brand had
been seen under suspicious detention."
"Prior to information thus received,
you were not aware this creature had
either strayed away or been stolen?"
"I was not?"
"Who gave you this information,
Mr. Langford?"
"George Williston of the Lazy S."
"Now you may tell the jury in what
words Williston told you about the
steer he saw."
This, of course, was objected to and
the objection was sustained by the
court, as Gordon knew it would be.
He only wanted the jury to remember
that Williston could have told a dam
aging story had he been here, and also
to remember how mysteriously this
same Williston had disappeared. He
could not have Williston or Williston's
story, but he might keep an impres
sion ever before these 12 men that
there was a story—he knew it and
they knew it —a story of which some
crotchet of the law forbade the telling.
"What did you do after your atten
tion had been called to the suspicious
circumstances of the steer's deten
tion?"
"I informed my boys of what I had
heard and sent them out to look for
the •steer."
"That same day?"
"Yes."
■"Were they successful?"
•"No,"
"Did this steer have a particular
Stamping ground?"
"He did."
"Where was that?"
"He always ranged with a bunch on
what we call the home range."
"Near the ranch house?"
"Within half a mile."
"Did you look for him yourself?"
"I did."
"He was not on this home grazing
ground?"
"He was not."
"Did you look elsewhere for him?"
"We did."
"Where?"
"We rode the free ranges for sever
al days—wherever any of my cattle
held out."
"How many days did you say you
rode?"
"Why, we continued to look sharp
until my boy, Munson, found him the
day before Ihe preliminary at the Vel
pen stock yards, on the point of being
shipped to Sioux City."
"You went to Velpen to identify this
■steer?"
"I did."
"It was your steer?"
"Yes."
"The same for which you had been
searching so long?"
"The very same."
"It was wearing your brand?"
"It was not."
"What brand was it wearing?"
"J R."
"Where was It?"
"On the right hip."
"Where do you usually put your
brand, Mr. Langford?"
"On the right hip."
"Always?"
"Always."
"Do you know any J. R outfit?"
"I do not."
Gordon nodded to Small. His exam
ination had been straightforward and
to the point. He had drawn alert and
confident answers from his witness,
involuntarily, he glanced at Louise,
who had not seemed to be working at
all during this clean-cut dialogue. She
flashed a fleeting smile at him. He
knew he was out of sympathy with the
great majority of the people down
there in front. He did not seem to
care so much now. A great medicine
is a womanly and an understanding
smile. It flushed his face a bit, too.
Langford was most unsatisfactory
under cross-examination. He never
contradicted himself, and was a trifle
contemptuous of any effort to tangle
NS —EL N
HR~ •_]
The Game Was On.
him up in threads of his own weaving.
The little man touched Small on the
arm and whispered to him.
"Mr. Langford," said Small, in a
weighty voice, "you travel a great
deal, I believe."
"I do."
"For pleasure, maybe?" with a mys
terious inflection.
"Partly."
"Business as well?"
"Business as well."
"Just prior to the arrest of the de
fendant," insinuatingly, "you were
away."
"How long prior do you mean?"
"Say a week."
"No."
"Two weeks?"
"Yes."
"You had been away some time?"
"The better part of a year," con
fessed Langford, with engaging can
dor.
"Yes. Now, Mr. Langford, I should
like you to tell me about how many
cattle you range—in round numbers?"
"About 5,000 head."
"Yes. Now, Mr. Langford, you who
count your cattle by the thousands,
on your own sworn word you have
been out of the country a year. Don't
you think you are asking this jury to
j swallow a pretty big mouthful when
j you ask them to believe that you could
so unmistakably distinguish this one
j poor ornery steer, who has so little to
distinguish him from thousands of
others?"
"I have owned that spotted steer for
years," said Langford, composedly. "I
have never sold him because he was
rather an odd creature and so can
tankerous that we dubbed him the
Three Bars' mascot."
Gordon called Jim Munson.
"What is your name?"
"Gosh!"
The question was unexpected. Was
there any one in the county who did
not know Jim Munson? And Dick Gor
don of all people! Then he remem
bered that the boss had been asked
the same question, so it must he all
right. But the ways of the court
were surely mysterious and ofttiines
foolish.
"Jim Munson. Jim Munson's my
name—yep."
Gordon smiled.
"You needn't insist on it, Mr. Mun
son," he advised. "We know it now.
Where do you live?"
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1908.
"Hellity damn! I live at the Three
Bars' ranch."
"In Keiuah county?"
"It sure is."
"What is your business, Mr. Mun
son?"
"Jim's shorter, Dick. Well, I work
for the boss, Mr. Paul Langford."
"In what capacity?"
"If you mean what do I do, why, I
ride the range, I punch cows, I always
goon the round-up, I'm a fair bronco
breaker and I make up bunks and
clean lamp chimblies between times,""
he recited, glibly, bound to be terse yet
explicit, by advicfe of the boss.
There was a gale of laughter in the
bar. Even the court smiled.
"Oh, Jim! Jim! You have perjured
yourself already!" murmured the boss.
"Clean lamp chimneys—ye gods'"
"Well, grin away!" exploded Jim,
his quick ire rising. He had forgotten
that Judge Dale's court was not like
Justice McAllister's, llis fingers fair
ly itched to draw a pistol and make
the scoffers laugh and dance to a little
music of his own. But something in
Gordon's steady though seemingly
careless gaze brought him back to the
seriousness of the scene they were
playing—without guns.
The examination proceeded. The
air was getting stilling. Windows
were thrown open. Damp-looking
clouds had arisen from nowhere seem
ingly and spread over the little prairie
town, over the river and the hills. It
was very warm. Weather-seasoned
inhabitants would have predicted
storm had they not been otherwise en
gaged. There was no breath of air
stirring. Mrs. Higgins had said it
was a sorry day for the cattle when
the river was running in December.
Others had said so and so believed,
but people were not thinking of the
cattle now. One big-boned, long-horned
steer held the stage alone.
The state proceeded to Munson's
identification of the steer in question.
After many and searching questions,
Gordon asked the witness:
"Jim, would you be willing to swear
that the steer you had held over at
the stock yards was the very same
steer that was the mascot of the
Three Bars' ranch?"
This was Jim's big opportunity.
"Know Mag? Swear to Mag? Dick,
I would know Mag ef I met him on the
golden streets of the eternal city or
ef my eyes was full o' soundin' cat
aracts! Yep."
"1 am not asking such an impossible
feat, Mr. Munson," cut in Gordon, net
tled by the digressions of one of his
most important witness. "Answer
briefly, please. Would you be willing
to swear?"
Jim was jerked back to the beaten
track by the sharp incision of Gor
don's rebuke. No, this was indeed not
Jimmie Mac's court.
"Yep," he answered, shortly.
Hilly Brown was called. After the
preliminary questions, Gordon said to
him:
"Now, Mr. Brown, please tell the
jury how you came into possession of
the steer."
"Well, I was shippin' a couple o' car
loads to Sioux City, and I was drivin'
the bunch myself with a couple o'
hands when I meets up with Jesse
Black here. He was herdin' a likely
little bunch o' a half dozen or so—
among 'em this spotted feller. He said
he wasn't shippin' any this fall, but
these were for sale—part of a lot he
had bought from Yellow Wolf. So the
upshot of the matter was I took 'em
off his hands. I was just lackin' 'bout
that many to make a good, clean, two
cars full."
"You took a bill-of-sale for them, of
course, Mr. Brown?"
"I sure did. I'm too old a hand to
buy without a bill-o'-sale."
The document was produced, mark
ed as an exhibit, and offered in evi
dence.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
TOOK HIS OWN FROM ROBBER.
How a Pilgrim Got Back His Stolen
Purse in Church.
From Czenstochowa, the Mecca of
Polish pilgrims, comes an amazing
story of coincidences. A pilgrim went
to one of the priests and complained
that some thief had stolen his purse
while he was in church, and asked for
money. The priest replied that he
had no money and that the best thing
for the pilgrim to do was to try to
find the thief. "I shall go into the
church and steal money from some
body else," said the pilgrim, "for I
have nothing togo home with." He
went into the church and seeing a
man in the crowd with a wallet on his
back slipped liis hand into it and
pulled out his own stolen purse, with
the exact sum he had left in it. He
was so glad to find his money that he
hurried off to tell the priest and the
thief got away.
What's Geography Good For?
This is from the philosophy of Mrs.
Louisa Schmitt, who berated a teacher
for not promoting her daughter be
cause the latter was deficient in geog
raphy. "Teacher, you don't know it
all, 1 guess," said the irate Mrs.
Schmitt. "1 wish it that my daughter
gets througli school so she gets a man.
Never mind about the geography;
just promote her without it. Why,
my other dawghter, she didn't know
geography and she got a man. And
you know all about geography and
you ain't got any man at all. What is
this geography good for? See that my
daughter gets through school."
Dramatic Emotions.
The most effective moments in
the theater are those that appeal to
commonplace emotions—love of wom
an, love of home, love of country, love
of right, anger, jealousy, revenge, am
bition, lust, and treachery.—Clay Ham
ilton in the Forum.
HtEMAPEEI
BRITISH LIBERAL LEADER QUITS
HOUSE OF COMMONS.
11l Health and Too Much Work Forces
Distinguished Lieutenant of Glad
stone and Friend of Carnegie
Into Easier Post.
London. —John Morley, the distin
guished liberal leader, has been ele
vated to the peerage; he will, how
ever, retain the office of secretary for
India in the reorganized British parlia
ment. Morley's reason for accepting
a peerage is his declining health and
a throat affection that makes the
strain of the work in the house of
commons too great.
In leaving the house of commons
that body loses one of its most noted
members. Many accomplishments in
and out of his official duties have un
doubtedly earned this title for the
English liberal leader, historian, the
ologian, orator, editor and student.
Morley has likewise been called the
Puritan of politics, a title which his
passion for righteousness and his pub
lice austerity have conspired to win
him.
It is difficult to imagine Morley
among the peers, for whose benefit he
invented the phrase: "Mind them or
end them." When made secretary of
state of India his critics said he would
make a weak executive. He proved
otherwise. He made a vigorous speech
in the house of commons, in which lie
announced his purpose to crush sedi
tion in India with a strong hand. He
defended the sharp treatmeut he had
I -
Jmsgte 'c'ggfy ||i
W k.
JOHN MORLEY~ '
extended to Indian agitators and re
fused to offer an apology. "British
rule in India will continue and ought
to continue and must continue,"
said he.
John Morley was born at Blackburn,
England, December 24, 1838. He was
graduated from Chettenham and Lin
coln college, Oxford, and began life
as a barrister. In 1867, however, he
was called to the editorship of the
Fortnightly Review, .a post which he
held until 1882. From 1880 until 1883
he was likewise editor of the famous
Pall Mali Gazette, leaving his desk
there togo to parliament as the repre
sentative of Newcastle. He was Irish
secretary in 1886 and again from 1892
to 1895. In 1896 he was returned to
parliament and since gradually
achieved for himself a reputation in
politics, letters and philosophical
thought.
Morley was Gladstone's favorite lieu
tenant when the "Grand Old Man"
died. He was one of the axious per
sonal friends who watched over the
great premier in his last illness, and
his "Life of Gladstone" is one of his
most notable literary labors.
Hall Caine and Andrew Carnegie are
among the close friends of the liberal.
The laird of Sldbo is accounted one of
the particular intimates of Morley, in
a personal way, in the tendency of
their thoughts and aims and otherwise.
Recently Carnegie, well knowing his
friend's studious inclination, presented
him with a library of 90,000 volumes,
one of the finest collections of books
in existence. In 1904 Carnegie also
influenced the noted Englishman to
come to America. In Pittsburg Morley
was the guest of Carnegie and there
delivered his only American lecture.
In an interview in America Morley
said that he, as an English liberal, was
always intensely interested in Amer
ica and her politics and that England
as a whole was fascinated by Presi
dent. Roosevelt.
More than once it lias been said that
if John Morley had a vice lie might be
premier. As it is Morley is too full of
unrelenting rectitude, too barren of ap
parent passion, to be an English popu
lar hero. For all that he is a man of
emotions and feeling, but, above them
all, one of restraint. One never knows
Morley the man, but one can never es
cape! Morley, the exterior, distant, re
served and unbending.
In politics Morley is a liberal in
every sense, but he holds the same
reserve of caution on his theories as
on his public behavior. In religion lie
is an agnostic, but not one of the as
sertive kind. He has a quick,
keen and delightful sense of humor, is
•one of the most charming of
companions and is a great fa
vorite among women. He is by na
ture nervous, is quick in temper and
rather impatient. He lias no amuse
ments other ilian walking, and is fond
o£ music and books. His father wished
to make him a minister of the gospel,
Out he fell under the teachings of John
Stuart Mill, the philosopher, and
thereafter the church was impossible.
The council of empire at St. Peters
burg has raised the Russian legation
at Tokyo to an embassy.
BACON MAY SUCCEED TAFT.
assistant Secretary of State Likel> to
Head War Department.
Boston. The intimate personal
friends of Assistant Secretary of State
Bacon, formerly of Boston, have re
ceived information which leads them
to believe that Mr. Bacon will become
secretary of war about July 1 next,
succeeding Secretary Taft, who is un
derstood to be desirous of retiring
from the cabinet at that time.
The determination of Secretary
Taft to retire is said to bo quite
definite, and is understood not to
be dependent upon the outcome of the
national convention.
Mr. Bacon was born in this city
ir.d was particularly prominent in ath-
Robert Bacon.
ieties while attending Harvard uni
versity, being captain of the varsity
crew. He was a classmate of Presi
dent Roosevelt.
He was connected with the bank
ing firm of E. Rollins Morse & Co.
until 1899, when he became a mem
ber of the firm of J. P. Morgan &
Co. of New York, where he has since
made his home. He married a Miss
Carlton of New York.
His friends in this city, upon hear
ing of his reported advancement, were
not surprised, for something of such
a nature had been anticipated.
HOUSE OF LITHOGRAPHIC STONE.
Home in Nuremberg, Germany, Covet
ed by Many.
Berlin. —Lithographers look at it
and sigh. It's a plain, plastered stone
house about 50 yards from the ancient
city hall of Nuremberg, Germany.
There is nothing to distinguish it from
the other old houses of the neighbor
hood except that it is built of lith-
Jgraphic stone, worth from six to 21
lents a pound. So lithographers who
jo to Nuremberg wander from the
worn tourist trails to see the wonder.
The house was built about 1680, near
ly 100 years before Alois Senefelder,
the discoverer of lithography, was
born. Andreas Lichtenstein, who
built it, took the stone easiest to get
and secured it for the trouble of carry
fey ji
iptsfi
A Cross Marks the Building Coveted
by Lithographers.
Ing it away. Now the material in the
building is worth about $4,000.
The present Andreas Lichtenstein, a
descendant of the man who built the
house, has said "Nein" about once a
month for the last 20 years to specu
lators who want to buy his home and
tear it down for the stone. It is his
home and that of his forefathers and
he refuses to part with it. So lith
ographers, with thoughts of rising
prices, look and sigh.
Lithographic stone is found in com
mercial quantities only in Bavaria.
The largest quarries are near Nurem
berg.
Chinamen Take Up Skating Fad.
Whether it be owing to Christian
ity, civilization or Americanization,
mattery not, but the Chicago China
man is "getting there." He has taken
to roller skates, says the Chicago Ex
aminer.
With him it has become a case of
"roll, roll, roll along," but instead of
"over the dark, blue sea," as when he
came from the "Celestial kingdom," it
is across and along the pavements of
the "chop suey district."
That he enjoys tlie sport is attested
by the increasing numbers seen night
ly in Clark and adjacent streets.
It seems odd to see these so-called
heathen going with the wind, their
queues flying behind them, and the
straps of their skates pressed down
deeply into their well padded sandals.
The missionary didn't teach John
Chinaman to skate. He got. the in
spiration from his children, and they
learned it from their American school
mates.
Averted an Excuse.
"I noticed," remarked the piano
stool to tiie parlor lamp, "that you
started to smoke last night when Miss
Yerner was entertaining ,Mr. Tim
mid."
"Yes," replied the lamp, "I saw
she was just waiting for an excuse
to turn me down."
Looked On as Form of Bribery.
Controller Wilson of Chicago has
ruled that no telephone, traction, elec
trie light or other public utility corpo
ration can make contributions to iios
litals or other charities^
ALMOST A MIRACLE.
Raised Up When Science Said Ther«
Was No Hope.
G. W. L. Nesbitt, Dopot Street,
Marion, Ky., writes: "I was a chronic
t invalid with kidney
troubles, and often
wished death might
end my awful suffer
ings. The secretions
were thick with sedi
ment, ray limbs
swollen and my right
side so nearly par
"nanr- alyzed I could not
raise my hand above my head. The
doctor held out 110 hope of ray re
covery, and I had given up, but at last
started using Doan's Kidney Pills and
made a rapid gain. After three months
use I was well and at work again."
Sold by ail dealers. 50 cents a box.
Foster-Milburn Co., Buffalo, N. Y.
EXTREE! EXTREE!
Si—Pop, the old red caow hea
kicked the bucket!
Hi —Je-rushlem, I wouldn't tuk S4O
fer thet caow! Did she pass away in
peace?
Si —She passed away in pieces, yep!
The old fule kicked thet bucket o' stuff
yeou go tew blow up stumps with!
15 YEARS OF SUFFERING.
Burning, Painful Sores on Legs-
Tortured Day and Night—Tried
Many Remedies to No Avail
—Cured by Cuticura.
"After an attack of rheumatism,
running sores broke out on my hus
band's legs, from below the knees to
the ankles. There are no words to
tell all the discomforts and great suf
fering he had to endure night and day.
He used every kind of remedy and
three physicians treated him, one after
the other, without any good results
whatever. One day I ordered some
Cuticura Soap, Cuticura Ointment,
and Cuticura Resolvent. He began
to use them and in three weeks all the
sores were diefl up. The burning fire
stopped, and the pains became bear
able. After three months he was quite
well. I can prove this testimonial at
any time. Mrs. V. V. Albert, Upper
Frenchville, Me., July 21, 1907."
Paving the Way.
"George," said the pretty girl, "I
know you're awful bashful."
This was portentous, with leap year
so new. He blushed assent.
"And you'd have proposed to me ex
cept for that?"
This, too, he was bound to acknowl
edge.
"Well, I would have accepted," she
went on,"and so that's settled."
Discussing the matter later she ex
pressed a natural pride that she bad
not taken any advantage of the sea
son.
Ominous.
"The bookkeeper," said the junior
partner, "has been married nearly
four Months now."
"Well," demanded the senior part
ner, "what of that?"
"Why, be hasn't asked for an in
crease in salary—"
"Heavens! We must have his ac
counts examined." —Catholic Standard
and Times.
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